Can #MeToo change our culture?

The Indian Express

Indian women are naming and shaming their abusers, said The Indian Express. The #MeToo movement has unleashed “a crescendo of rage, trauma, and anguish” in this country as women tell their stories of being propositioned at work, followed, harassed, groped, and even raped. They have revealed “a toxic, patriarchal culture so ingrained as to be inevitable” and a justice system that fails them at every level. Every profession is implicated. Journalist turned politician M.J. Akbar now has at least 15 accusers; comedian Utsav Chakraborty faces numerous allegations. Times of India editor KR Sreenivas has been put on leave after being accused by seven women of sexual misconduct.

To many men, this public pillorying seems like anarchy. Can a reputation now be destroyed by a tweet? But they must remember that women are going public because other routes have failed them. Complaints of harassment to superiors have brought no relief; complaints to police are too often ignored. This movement hasn’t gone too far—it hasn’t gone far enough. It needs to spread to the “startup cultures riddled by the bro code” and especially to the informal work sector, “where the weakest of women battle the most unequal working conditions.” Indian institutions must accept their complicity in “pervasive injustice”—and change. It’s going to be “a long, fraught journey.”